In the recent past, Al Qadea has increased its threats to maritime activities. This has created the need to increase maritime national intelligence. Notably, Al Qaeda has been able to execute various maritime attacks. The following are some of the current Al Qaeda maritime attacks: October 2000 USS Cole attack, LNG tankers attack, MV Limburg attack at the Gulf of Aden as well as an action against cruise ships among others.

Lorenz gives more insight to the maritime terrorism arguing that international law does not define this form of terrorism well. He explains that maritime terrorism entails kidnapping for ransoms by terrorists (Lorens, 2007). In addition, he notes that in 2001, there were three American citizens and 17 Filipinos, who were abducted by an Al Qaeda affiliate, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). As well as that, al-Nashiri, who was a close ally of Osama, has played a great role in planning and executing various maritime attacks.

Moreover, the document reviews some of the on-going maritime threats that have caused the increased use of maritime highways. Some of the containers transported through these highways are used to conceal weapons of mass destruction. In addition, they are used to capture other ships in other shipping lanes. This has increased terrorists attack on cruise ships (Lorens, 2007). As a result, cruise ships have raised the action of terrorists who are able to privately carry out their attacks.

This document addresses some of the challenges that the United States is undergoing in its endeavor to counter maritime terrorism. There have been continuous potential threats of terrorists’ attacks. This has created the need to identify areas that require security preparedness and assessments (Lorens, 2007). Indeed, potential attacks have increased in different scenarios. This implies that resources to counter terrorism have to be increased.

A number of logical approaches have been developed and prioritized in various maritime activities. These approaches entail the entire risk of attack, the consequences as well as other likelihoods (Parfomak & Frittelli, 2007). In addition, these approaches are federally supported as a way of prioritizing national maritime strategic plan. Maritime security resources are deployed to effectively maintain maritime terrorism intelligence. This ensures a consistency in policies that are concerned with the maritime security. As a result, the United States is able to increase its efforts in combating terrorist activities.

How real is the Threat from Maritime Terrorism?

According to Raymond, maritime terrorism is real. Maritime terrorism has been a major area of concern not only in the United States, but also in other parts of the world. This is due to various maritime attacks that happened in the past. As a result, there is a high possibility of maritime terrorism occurring any time (Raymond, 2005). Therefore, there has been increased preparedness in countering this kind of terrorism. Consecutively, various challenges to improve policies and methods of dealing with this kind of terrorism have been put in place. Raymond also addresses some of the challenges encountered in maritime security. According to Raymond, the reality of terrorism attacks is evident from a survey of the last five years where various successful and failed maritime attacks have occurred.

As analyzed in the above three documents, maritime terrorism has attracted attention of many countries around the globe. This has increased the need of preparedness. Virtually, the United States has been on the forefront in the fight against maritime terrorism attacks.